Louisville moves toward moratorium on retail pot businesses

City reverses course after residents speak out

By Megan Quinn Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
09/17/2013 10:42:04 PM MDT

Updated:
09/23/2013 05:32:31 PM MDT

CORRECTION: This story originally reported incorrectly that the Louisville City Council had adopted a moratorium on marijuana businesses. The council has yet to vote on the matter, but asked city staff to draft language for such a moratorium.

The Louisville City Council has instructed city staff to draft language for a potential moratorium on retail marijuana businesses and likely will ask its residents in November 2014 whether they want pot businesses in the city.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the City Council originally was poised to approve a set of specific rules that would allow future retail marijuana businesses in town. Yet a last-minute outcry from residents, who said marijuana sales did not fit with Louisville's family-centered mentality, reversed the council's decision to move forward with the regulations on new pot shops.

Instead, the City Council asked city staff to draft a possible moratorium on the businesses to be voted on by the council next month, which would then buy time to allow residents to vote on the matter. If approved, the moratorium will last through December 2014.

The surprise reversal drew applause from many residents, who attended the meeting to speak out against retail pot businesses.

“I urge everyone not to confuse a vote to legalize recreational marijuana as a vote to want it sold near our homes and in our city,” said resident Dan Waldrip. He and nine other residents spoke against allowing future pot businesses in town. “I just think you have to walk around this place to know it's not a fit.”

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Several council members said they had gone forward with crafting the proposed regulations because 62 percent of Louisville residents in 2012 voted to make pot legal in Colorado.

Yet mayor Bob Muckle said it had become clear that an overwhelming approval of legalizing pot did not mean residents were overwhelmingly in favor of recreational pot-related businesses.

“I personally have no interest in expanding sale of marijuana in Louisville, and I'm happy to have voters tell us what they really meant,” Muckle said.

Councilwoman Frost Yarnell said she is also happy to leave the final decision up to voters, who will be able to more clearly shape Louisville's marijuana future with their vote.

“This has been a struggle; this is difficult to tease out what people did want when they voted and what that meant,” she said, adding that many residents did not come forward with their concerns until council members were far along in the process of crafting the business regulations.

Voters in Colorado last November passed Amendment 64, which allows adults 21 and older to possess and consume small amounts of pot.

The law envisions marijuana retail stores in the state where the drug can be sold, but gives municipalities the right to ban them or regulate how, where and when they operate.

Amendment 64 allows existing medical marijuana businesses to apply for retail marijuana licenses beginning Oct. 1 and begin operations on the first of the year.

Louisville has two medical marijuana dispensaries, both in the Colony Square Shopping Center. Those businesses will continue to operate normally, but if a moratorium is adopted they won't be able to apply through Louisville for a license to convert their shop into a retail establishment unless voters approve retail pot shops in 2014.

Councilman Jay Keany said it was important to make sure future rules about recreational pot wouldn't unintentionally affect business for the two medical marijuana dispensaries, which have operated legally in Louisville for four years without any problems to the community.

“We've had these businesses here, and most people in town aren't even aware of them,” he said.

Staff is expected to present language for the proposed moratorium at a council meeting in October. Discussion on what a ballot question might look like will take place during a future council meeting, but a date has not yet been set.

On Tuesday, council members said future pot shops, if approved by voters, would likely have to follow many of the strict rules the council originally proposed.

The council agreed that there would likely be a limit of just four marijuana shops, and those shops would have to stay at least 1,000 feet away from schools and playgrounds. The City Council likely would limit the size of the stores to 2,000 square feet, and no marijuana businesses would be allowed in Louisville's downtown area.

Exact regulations wouldn't be hammered out until the 2014 vote gets closer, the council said.